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RULES OF 



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The Council and House of Representatives. ! 






















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Sixth Legislative Assembly of Wyoming. 




RULES OF 



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Tlie Council and House of Representatives. 


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CHEYENNE, WYO.: 


LEADER STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINT. 
1879 . 




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RULES 


-OF THE- 

HOUSE OF REPEESENTATIYES. 


1. The House shall meet each day of sitting at ten 
o'clock a. m. unless the House shall adjourn to some other 
hour. A majority of all the members of the House shall 
constitute a quorum. 

2. After prayer by the Chaplain, calling of the roll, 
and reading and approving the Journal, the order of 
business shall be as follows: 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

1. Petitions and memorials. 

2. Notices of bills. 

3. Reports of standing committees. 

4. Reports of select committees. 

5. Messages from the Governor. 

6. Motions and resolutions. 

7. Messages from the Council. 

8. Introduction and first reading of bills. 

9. Second reading and reference of bills. 

10. Third reading of bills. 

11. Unfinished business of the general order. 

12. Special order of the day. 

13. General orders of the day. 

But messages from the Governor, communications 
from the Territorial officers, messages from the Council, 




4 


RULES OF 


and reports of the committee on engrossed hills may be 
received under any order of business. 

PETITIONS, ETC. 

3. Petitions, memorials, and other papers addressed 
to the blouse shall be presented by the Speaker or by a 
member in his place. A brief statement of the contents 
thereof shall he made verbally by the introducer. They 
shall not be debated on the day of their being presented, 
but shall lie on the table or be referred, as the House 
shall determine. 

BILLS. 

4. Every bill shall be introduced by giving at least 
one day’s notice, or by leave of two-thirds of the House, 
except such bill shall be introduced by a committee, in 
accordance with a rule of the House. 

5. Every bill shall receive three readings previous to 
its passage; the Speaker shall give notice at each reading 
whether it be the first, second or third reading. The 
first and second readings shall be on the same day unless 
an objection be interposed. No bill shall be amended or 
committed until twice read. The first reading of a bill 
shall be for information, and, if opposition be made to it, 
the question shall be: “Shall the bill be rejected?” If 
no objection be made, or if the question to reject be neg¬ 
atived, the bill shall then pass to its second reading with¬ 
out question. 

DUTIES OF SPEAKER. 

6. The Speaker shall take the chair at the time to 
which the House stands adjourned, and the House shall 
then be called to order and the roll of members called, 
and the names of the absentees shall be entered upon the 
House journal. 

7. He shall preserve order and decorum, may speak 
to points of order in preference to other members, rising 


THE HOUSE. 


5 


from his seat for that purpose, and shall decide questions 
of order, subject to an appeal to the House by any two 
members, on which appeal no member shall speak more 
than once, unless by leave ot the House. 

8. He shall have the general direction of the hall. 
He shall have a right to name any member to perform 
the duties of the Chair, but such substitution shall not 
extend beyond an adjournment. 

9. All acts, addresses, and joint resolutions shall be 
signed by the Speaker, or Speaker elected pro tem ., and 
all writs, warrants and subpoenas, issued by an order of 
the House, shall be under his hand, attested by the Clerk. 

10. In case of any disturbance' or disorderly conduct 
in the lobby or any part of the House when in sessiQn, 
the Speaker shall have power to order the same cleared. 
And when the House is in committee of the whole, 
should there be any disturbance or disorderly conduct in 
the lobby or any part of the House, the Speaker shall 
immediately resume the chair and shall in like manner 
have power to order the same cleared until order is 
restored. 

11. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall attend the House, 
during its sittings, execute the commands of the House, 
and all processes issued by authority'thereof, directed to 
him by the Speaker or Speaker elected pro tem . 

COMMITTEES, THEIR DUTIES, ETC. 

12. The standing committees, consisting, except where 
otherwise specified, of three members each, except com¬ 
mittees 1, 2, 7 and 11, which committees shall consist of 
five members each, shall be appointed on the following 
subjects: 

1. Ways and Means. 

2. Judiciary. 

3. Federal Relations. 


6 


RULES OF 


4. Indian and Military Affairs. 

5. Territorial Affairs and Internal Improvements. 

6. Education and Public Printing. 

7. Counties and County Boundaries. 

8. Corporations and Public Highways. 

9. Mines, Minerals and Public Lands. 

10. Agriculture and Manufactures. 

11. Elections. 

12. Engrossment. 

13. Enrollment. 

14. Immigration. 

15. Mechanical and Laboring Pursuits. 

13. All committees shall be appointed by the Speaker, 
unless otherwise specially directed by the House. 

14. It shall be the duty of the committee on Ways 
and Means to take into consideration all such reports of 
the Treasury Department, and all such propositions rela¬ 
tive to the revenue as may be referred to them by the 
House; to inquire into the state of the public debt, and 
of the expenditures, and report from time to time their 
opinion thereon. 

15. It shall be the duty of the committee on Judiciary 
to examine all the codes, both civil and criminal, and 
report to the House bills for the amendment of the same, 
if amendments be deemed by them necessary, and all 
other matters touching the general laws that may be 
presented, or come into question and be referred to them 
by the House. 

16. It shall be the duty of the committee on Elections 
to examine and report upon the certificates of election or 
other credentials of members returned to serve in this 
House, and to take into their consideration all such peti¬ 
tions and other matters touching elections and returns as 
shall or may be presented or come into question, and be 
referred to them by the House. 


THE HOUSE. 


i 


17. It shall be the duty of the committee on Indian 
and Military Affairs to take into consideration all subjects 
relating to Indian relations, military establishments and 
public defense which may be referred to them by the 
House, and report their opinion thereon. 

18. It shall be the duty of the committee on Educa¬ 
tion to take under their especial charge the educational 
interests of the Territory, and all matters pertaining 
thereto that may be referred to them by the House. 

19. When a motion is made to refer any subject, and 
different committees shall be proposed, the question shall 
be taken in the following order: the committee of the 
whole House, a standing committee, a select committee. 

20. In forming a committee of the whole House, a 
chairman, to be named by the Speaker, shall preside. 
Bills committed to a committee of the whole House shall, 
in the committee of the whole, be read by sections. All 
amendments shall be noted and reported to the House 
by the chairman. After report the bill shall again be 
subject to amendment before the question is taken. 

21. The rules of the House shall be observed in com¬ 
mittee of the whole, so far as may be applicable, except 
the yeas and nays shall not be called, the previous ques¬ 
tion enforced, nor the time of speaking limited. 

22. A motion that the committee rise shall always be 
in order, and shall be decided without debate. 

23. A member called to order shall immediately sit 
down, unless permitted to explain, and the House, when 
appealed to, shall decide the case; if there be no appeal, 
the decision of the Chair shall be submitted to. On an 
appeal no member shall speak more than once without 
leave of the House, except when a member is called to 
order' for offensive words spoken, in which case there 
shall be no debate, and the member calling him to order 


8 


llULES OF 


shall repeat the words excepted to, and they shall be 
taken down in writing at the Clerk’s table, and no mem¬ 
ber shall he held to answer, or subject to the censure of 
the House, for language used in debate, it any member 
has spoken or any other business has intervened after 
the words spoken and before exception shall have been 
taken. 

24. When two or more members shall rise at once, 
the Speaker shall name the member who is first to speak. 

25. Every member, when he speaks, shall, standing 
in his place, address “ Mr. Speaker,” and when he has 
finished he shall sit down. No member shall speak more 
than twice during the consideration of any one question 
on the same day and at the same stage of proceedings 
without leave, except chairmen of committees, upon mat¬ 
ters reported by them; and members who have once 
spoken shall not again be entitled to the floor (except for 
explanation) to the exclusion of other members who have 
not spoken. 

26. When the House adjourns the members shall keep 
their seats until the Speaker announces the adjournment. 

27. No motion shall he debated until the same shall 
he seconded and distinctly announced by the Speaker, 
and it shall be reduced to writing it required by the 
Speaker or any member, and be read by the Clerk before 
the same shall be debated. Amotion may he withdrawn 
at any time before amendment or decision. 

28. A motion to adjourn shall always be in order, 
except when a member is addressing the Chair, or a vote 
is being taken. Any motion to lay on the table shall be 
decided without debate. 

29. When a question is under debate, or before the 
House, no motion shall be received but to adjourn, to lay 
on the table, for the previous question, to postpone to a 
day certain, to commit or amend, to postpone indefinitely, 


THE HOUSE. 


9 


which several motions shall have precedence in the order 
in which they are named; but the first three shall be 
decided without debate; and no motion to a day certain, 
to commit or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, shall 
again be allowed on the same day and at the same stage 
of the proceedings. A motion to strike out the enacting 
clause of a bill or resolution shall have precedence of a 
motion to amend, and, if carried, shall be considered 
equivalent to its rejection. 

30. The previous question shall be in this form: 
“Shall the main question be now put,” and its effect, 
when demanded by five of the members present, shall be 
to put an end to all debate and bring the House to a vote 
on said question, and when the previous question shall 
have been carried its effect shall be to bring the House 
to a vote without debate on the main question. On a 
motion for the previous question, a call of the House 
shall be in order before a majority shall have seconded 
such motion, but no call shall be in order thereafter, prior 
to the decision of the main question. 

31. All incidental questions of order arising after a 
motion is made for the previous question, and pending 
such motion or previous question, shall be decided 
(whether on appeal or otherwise) without debate. 

32. The previous question shall only be put when 
demanded by five members. T> 

33. When a question is indefinitely postponed, the 
same shall not be again introduced during the session. 

34. Any member may call for a division of the ques¬ 
tion, which shall be divided if it comprehend propositions 
in substance so distinct that, one being taken away, a 
substantial proposition shall remain for the decision of 
the House. A motion to strike out being lost, shall 
preclude neither amendment nor a motion to strike out 
and insert. 


10 


RULES OF 

35. No motion or proposition on a subject different 
from that under consideration shall be admitted as an 
amendment. No bill or resolution shall at any time be 
amended by annexing thereto or incorporating therein 
any other bill or resolution pending before the House. 
No bill shall be printed unless ordered by a direct vote 
of the House. 

36. In filling-un blanks the largest sum and th6 long- 

O jl O O 

est time shall be first put. 

37. All questions relating to the priority of business 
shall be decided without debate. 

38. On the day succeeding that on which a final vote 
on any bill or resolution has been taken, said vote may 
be reconsidered on the motion of any member, provided 
notice of intention to move such reconsideration shall 
have been given on the day on which such final vote 
was taken, by a member voting with the majority, and it 
shall be in order for any member to move a reconsidera¬ 
tion on the day on which such final vote was taken. But 
a motion to reconsider having been once entertained shall 
not again be in order as regards the same subject during 
the session. Said motion of reconsideration shall have 
precedence over every other motion, except a motion to 
adjourn. No notice of reconsideration shall be in order 
on the day preceding the last day of the session; but there 
shall be no reconsideration of a vote On a motion to 
indefinitely postpone. 

39. The ayes and noes shall be taken when called for 
by three members present, and every member w ithin the 
bar of the House, when his name is called, shall, unless 
for special reasons he be excused, declare openly and 
without debate, his vote. In taking the ayes and noes, 
and upon the call of the House, the names of the mem¬ 
bers shall be taken alphabetically, and the Clerk shall 
enter on the journal the names of those demanding the 


THE HOUSE. 11 

ayes and noes, and the ayes and noes shall he taken on 
the final passage of all bills. 

40. No member or other person shall remain by the 
clerk’s table while the ayes and noes are being called, or 
while the votes are being counted. 

41. No member shall vote on any question in the 
result of which he is personally interested or involved. 

42. Upon a division and count of the House on any 
question no person without the bar shall be counted. 

43. No member shall be allowed to explain his vote or 
discuss the question while the yeas and nays are being 
called, and no member shall be allowed to change his 
vote after the vote is announced from the Chair. 

44. A call of the House shall only be ordered or a 
vote taken thereon upon the demand of five members, 
one making the motion, and four seconding the same by 
rising. Upon a call of the House the names of the mem¬ 
bers shall be called over by the clerk, and the absentees 
noted, after which the names of the absentees shall again 
be called over. The doors shall then be shut and those 
for whom no excuse or sufficient excuses are made, may, 
by order of those present, be taken into custody as they 
appear, or may be sent for and taken into custody by the 
Sergeant-at-Arms, wherever to be found, or by a special 
messenger to be appointed for that purpose. 

45. No standing rule or order of the House shall be 
rescinded or changed without a vote of two-thirds of the 
whole House and one day’s notice being given of the 
motion therefor; but a rule or order may be suspended 
temporarily bv a,vote of two-thirds of the whole House, 
except that portion of rule five relating to a third reading 
of bills. 

46. No member shall absent himself from the service 
of the House without obtaining the permission of the 
House, except in case of sickness, and no member shall 


RULES OF 


12 

obtain a leave of absence, or be excused, without the 
vote of a majority of the House. 

47. No persons shall be admitted within the bar of 
the House except the Federal officers of the Territory, 
the Territorial Treasurer and Auditor, Judges of the 
Supreme and District Courts, members of Congress, those 
who have been members of Congress, the Legislative 
Council and House of Representatives, except by special 
invitation on the part of the Speaker or some member; 
but a majority may authorize the Speaker to have the 
House cleared of all such persons. 

48. No smoking shall be allowed within the Assembly 
Chamber during the session of the House. 

49. The rules of parliamentary practice, embraced in 
Cushing’s Manual, shall govern the House in all cases in 
which they are applicable, and in which they are not 
inconsistent with the standing rules of the House and the 
joint rules and orders of the Council and House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. 

50. The Assembly Room shall not be used for any 
public or private business, other than legislative, except 
by permission of the Speaker. 

51. It shall be in order for an}' member or members 
to protest against the action of the House, and have such 
protest entered in the minutes. 

52. All bills reported to the House by either standing 
or special committees, after receiving their second read¬ 
ings, shall be placed upon a general file to be kept by the 
Clerk; and no bill shall be considered by the House until 
the regular order of business shall have been gone through, 
and then bills shall be taken from the general file and 
acted upon in the order in which they were reported, 
unless otherwise specially ordered by the House; but 
engrossed bills shall be placed at the head of the file in 
the order in which they are received. 


THE HOUSE. 


13 


53. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall be allowed a fee of 
one dollar for arresting and bringing any member into 
the House, and ten cents for each mile necessarily trav¬ 
eled, which fee shall be taxed against such member. 

54. When the Speaker is putting the question no mem¬ 
ber shall walk out, or across the House; nor when a mem¬ 
ber is speaking shall any member entertain any private 
discourse, nor pass between him and the Chair. 

55. A majority of all the members of the House vot¬ 
ing for the removal of the Speaker shall be sufficient to 
vacate the chair, and remove any officer of the House; 
and a majority of all the votes of the members present 
shall be sufficient to sustain an appeal from the decision 
of the Speaker. 

56. All the clerks and other officers of the^ House, in 
addition to their ordinary duties, shall perform such other 
labor as may be requested ©f them by the Speaker. 



JOINT RULES 

FOR THE 

Council and House of Representatives. 

1. In every ease of an amendment of a bill agreed to 
in one House and dissented from in the other, if either 
House shall request a conference and appoint a committee 
to confer, the other House shall appoint a like commit¬ 
tee, and such committees shall meet at a convenient hour, 
to be agreed upon by their respective chairmen, and shall 
confer upon the differences between the two Houses, and 
shall report as early as convenient the result of their con¬ 
ference to their respective Houses for their action. 

2. When a message shall be sent from either House, 
it shall be announced at the door by the doorkeeper, and 
shall be respectfully communicated to the Chair by the 
person by whom it may be sent. 

3. Messages shall be sent by such persons as a sense 
of propriety in each House may determine to be proper. 

4. Notice of the action of either House to the other 
shall be on paper, and under the signature of the secre¬ 
tary or clerk of the House from which such notice is to 
be conveyed. 

5. After a bill shall have passed both houses, it shall 
be duly enrolled by the enrolling clerk of the House of 
Representatives, or of the Council, as the bill may have 
originated in the one or the other House, before it shall 
be presented to the Governor of the Territory. 

6. When the bills are enrolled, they shall be exam¬ 
ined by the enrolling committee of the House in which 


JOINT RULES. 


13 


ined by the enrolling committee of the House in which 
they originated, who shall carefully compare the enroll¬ 
ment with the engrossed bill as passed in the two Houses, 
and, correcting any errors that may be discovered in the 
enrolled bill, make their report forthwith to the House in 
which the bill originated. 

7. After an examination and report each bill shall be 
signed in their respective Houses, first by the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives, or by the Speaker elected 
pro tern ., then by the President of the Council, or by the 
President elected pro tem. 

8. After a bill shall have been thus signed in each 
House, it shall be presented by the enrolling committee of 
the House in which it originated to the Governor of the 
Territory, for his approval (it being first endorsed on the 
back of the roll by the secretary or clerk, as the case may 
be, certifying in which House the bill originated.) The 
said committee shall report the day and hour of pre¬ 
sentation to the Governor, which time shall be carefully 
entered on the journal of the Ilouse in which the bill 
originated. 

9. All orders, resolution and votes, which are to be 
presented to the Governor of the Territory for his 
approbation shall, in the same manner, be previously 
enrolled, examined and signed, and shall be presented in 
the same manner, and by the same committee, as pro¬ 
vided in the case of bills. 

10. When a bill or resolution which shall have passed 
in one House shall be rejected by the other, notice thereof 
shall be given to the House in which the same shall have 
been passed. 

11. When a bill or resolution which has been passed 
in one House shall be rejected by the other, it shall not 
be brought in again during the same session without a 

o o o 


JOINT RULES. 


14 

notice of live days, and leave of two-thirds ot that House 
in which it shall be renewed. 

12. Each House shall transmit to the other papers on 
which any bills or resolutions shall be founded. 

13. After each House shall have once adhered to their 
agreement, a bill or resolution shall be lost. 

14. No bill or resolution that shall have passed the 
House of Representatives and Council, shall be presented 
to the Governor for his approval on the last two days ot 
the session. 

15. There shall be a joint standing committee of one 
from the Council and two from the House, who shall 
examine all matter proposed to be printed by concurrent 
order, and shall report what parts of such matter it is 
needful to print. 

16. When any bill or resolution shall be introduced 
in one House, notice thereof shall be immediately trans¬ 
mitted to the other House. 

17. No bills except appropriation bills shall be intro¬ 
duced in either House after the thirtieth day of the 
session, except by consent of a quorum of the House in 
which the bill originated. 

















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